Design Thinking Your Super Power

Lower School students dove right into a Design Thinking project this fall.  The challenge was to design a super power that they wish they could have.  They could choose/make-up any super power, but it needed to be something that was helpful to someone, or something else in their community or the world.  The students worked collaboratively to brainstorm (or IDEATE) their sketches on paper.  The next step was to build a sculptural sketch, (or PROTOTYPE).  The prototype needed to go through multiple adjustments (or ITERATIONS), before it was ready for spray paint and labeling/logo design.  Many of the designs were put to the TEST with imagination and brilliant success!  We are currently taking our designs to the iPad and creating digital renderings with 3D imaging software. This project is a great example of combining Science Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics, or STEAM. The app we are using is called 123D Design and is free to download if you wish to explore from home. 

Katrina Whiting: GA Alum Designer Returns to GA

Katrina, a Senior Experience Designer at Method in San Fran Shares the New Space of Work (which just happens to support all of our work in 21st Century skills) graduated from Maryland Institute College of Art two years ago. She visited art students to share what an experience deisgner does:

They are collaborators:

We work with you to frame the problem or opportunity space to ensure we are solving the right challenge. We are flexible and adaptive to fit your needs and context. We run projects with small, focused teams that integrate with clients and their customers throughout the design process, often co-creating with them in our studios in San Francisco, New York, and London.

They are insight driven:

We gather and synthesize customer and market insight to inform the design process. We use a combination of data-driven quantitative research and market and consumer trend analysis with ethnography and user testing to provide design insights that help guide decision making.

They work iteratively:

We believe that the best products and services are the ones that are shaped by the people who use them. We take time to understand the business challenge or opportunity, and then we work iteratively to test hypotheses and assumptions through prototypes and user research to continuously build and test the products and services we create.

The consider the big picture:

No product or service exists in a vacuum—neither do we consider design in isolation of the overall brand experience. We consider the varying touchpoints and experiences a customer might have with a brand and ensure that any new interaction both fits and builds upon the overall customer experience.

They deliver beautiful design:

No matter what the ask, our dedication to the highest quality of craft remains constant, in both our thinking and the final work. We are dedicated to the details of design, delivering both beautiful form and function.

And they design for and with technology.

4th Graders Prototype Super Powers in the Beard Center

Jess Killo, Lower School art teacher has been an early adopter of both design thinking and maker space education, incorporating the work into the traditional practice of studio art.  This year, her 4th grade students began their Super Power project with a design thinking exercise, following that with a hand rendered prototyping project before utilizing iPads and digital technologies to render in CAD (computer assisted design) to print on our new MakerBots (3D printers) in the Beard Center for Innovation.

Design Thinking in Lower School Art

4th graders use Design Thinking to sketch ideas for "super powers" that would make the world a better place.  Next they will design and Prototype mechanisms to aid  their super power.